​A well-known Ukrainian comedian provoked outage after he made jokes about the MH17 plane tragedy, American mercenaries, Hitler and Ukrainian nationalism on a local TV show.

Most of the anger on social media was directed at Vladimir
Zelensky’s joke regarding the Malaysian Airlines plane crash, but
other parts of his show also provoked controversial responses.
The comedian, who has starred in a number of popular Russian
romcoms, began his standup routine on the local TV program
‘Vecherniy Kiev’ with the words “Glory to
Ukraine” – a nationalist greeting now often used as a show
of patriotism.

The premise of the comedian’s set was reading out a letter
addressed to his relatives in Russia, which ridiculed what
Ukrainians claim are mass media-imposed stereotypes.

The comic began with jokes about ‘Banderas’, referring
to Stepan Bandera’s nationalist movement, which collaborated with
Nazi Germany at the start of World War II and was involved in the
ethnic cleansing of Poles, Jews and Russians. Ukrainian
nationalists are often called Banderas by their opponents.

Zelensky joked that “things will be even better now”
since he joined the ranks of Banderas with many others, as there
is “no other way to make a career in Ukraine.”

“I have a small salary, but it is not important, as we are
now allowed to take away money and property from the Russians.
Before we could do the same to the Jews,” he sarcastically
said.

At one point of the sketch, the comedian also asked his relatives
to send out a copy of Hitler’s Mein Kampf (incidentally banned in
Russia), adding that all the copies of the book “have sold
out” in Ukraine. He even imitated a Nazi salute as part of
the show.

The letter also invited them to come and visit Ukraine, but with
a warning not to use planes. “This is dangerous!” he
joked, seamlessly forgetting that 298 people were killed as MH17
went down over Ukraine. The joke was followed by the audience
laughter.

He added that the safest way to travel is by means of white Kamaz
trucks, which have a “regular schedule and no delays” –
referring to vehicles used for transporting Russian humanitarian
aid to eastern Ukraine.

Zelensky then poked fun at the US role in the Ukrainian conflict.

“Now, for example, I am learning English to forget Russian.
American mercenaries are helping me out. They are here on every
corner. Why am I telling you this? You already know
everything,” he jested.

The US theme was taken even further: “Today our president –
the most, most important one – Barack Obama promised that we will
soon become part of NATO, of course with the rights of an
American henchman.”

To ridicule the gravity of the Ukrainian crisis the comic said he
is going “to dig out a bunker.”

The comedian has been in trouble before, forced to apologize for
offending the Muslim population in a previous routine that made
fun of the leader of the Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov.

Meanwhile, on the ground in eastern Ukraine a shaky truce has
been established between self-defense forces and the Kiev
government, with occasional shelling still occurring.

The latest report from the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM)
to Ukraine from Tuesday described seven people being killed and
15 other injured in heavy shelling by a ‘Grad’ multiple
rocket-launcher system, northeast of Mariupol. Shelling was also
reported northeast of Donetsk.